{"id":500807,"date":"2026-02-24T10:47:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T10:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500807\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T10:47:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T10:47:25","slug":"hawthorn-great-geoff-ablett-reveals-he-has-less-than-a-year-to-live-after-mnd-diagnosis-shed-a-few-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500807\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawthorn great Geoff Ablett reveals he has less than a year to live after MND diagnosis: \u2018Shed a few tears\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawthorn champion Geoff Ablett has revealed his grim diagnosis after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.<\/p>\n

Once one of footy\u2019s fastest players, Ablett is now in a wheelchair and struggles with breathing difficulties.<\/p>\n

The 70-year-old endured months of health struggles last year and underwent a series of tests before learning he had MND just before Christmas.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI shed a few tears,\u201d Ablett told 7NEWS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told lately 6-12 months living time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ablett\u2019s former footy rival Neale Daniher sent an inspiring message of support to Ablett.<\/p>\n

\"GeoffGeoff Ablett says he has less than a year to live after being diagnosed with MND on Christmas Eve. Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n

Daniher, 65, has lived with MND for a decade and can no longer speak, instead utilising technology replicating his voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi Geoff, Neale Daniher here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry to hear about your diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing footballers who played in the same era we have both ridden some big bumps on the footy field but there is no doubt this beast is going to be our toughest battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWishing you well. I hope you\u2019re getting plenty of love and support. All the very best, mate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ablett watched the footage and responded in an interview with 7NEWS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you keep inspiring all of Australia to find an answer to the riddle of this bloody beast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just an absolute legend, an example to me that I\u2019ve just got to keep pushing on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ablett \u2014 the brother of Geelong legend Gary and ex-Hawks teammate Kevin, who died last year \u2014 played in two Hawthorn premierships and won four grand final sprints.<\/p>\n

\"GeoffGeoff Ablett is cared for by sister Janice and his children. Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n

Once the mayor of Casey, Ablett believes the stress of a corruption inquiry resulting no charges contributed to his current condition.<\/p>\n

Cared for by his sister Janice and his children, he is desperate to leave hospital and return home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets a bit mundane and depressing,\u201d Ablett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re at home you\u2019re alive and people are there for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey love you and they want to do things with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than $16,000 has been raised in a GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hawthorn champion Geoff Ablett has revealed his grim diagnosis after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Once one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,7492,588,85],"class_list":["post-500807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}